After being traded from the Boston Celtics to the Cleveland Cavaliers last month (August), Isaiah Thomas received loads of congratulatory messages from friends and family. There was one, however, that seems to have stood out.
In an open letter for The Players’ Tribune, Thomas revealed that Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, sent him a text that left him thinking.
“Like I said, when the trade news broke, I got a lot of messages. They had my texts, IG, Twitter, voicemail, you name it, just blowing up. But there was one message in particular, out of all of them, that really stuck with me. It was from Tom Brady.”
Thomas, one of the more reserved players in the NBA, then disclosed his back-and-forth texts with Brady.
What’s up, IT, I heard about the news. You good?
I’m alright. I mean, it’s crazy. It’s a cold game.
Yes it is. Best of luck. You’re gonna do great. Keep in touch.
Brady, a five-time Super Bowl champion, is a legend in the New England area. Thomas says receiving a message from him was bittersweet.
“It wasn’t about what he said, exactly — though it was cool for him to say all that, no doubt. But it was more just everything it meant, I think, that stuck with me. To be getting a personal message like that from someone like Tom, who is such a Boston sports legend … I mean, it was bittersweet.
“At first, honestly, it stung a little. I look at a career like Tom’s with the Patriots — and that’s exactly the kind of career that I had hoped to be building here with the Celtics: Being this low draft pick … coming in without acclaim … and then — through hard work, and determination, and some talent that maybe people had overlooked — just starting to win, and win, and win. And then establishing a legacy of winning. And then staying in Boston, winning titles and competing like hell, for the rest of my career — until I was considered one of the all-time Boston greats. That’s the career that I had started to map out for myself. In my mind, I wanted to be the Celtics version of Brady and Ortiz. I wanted this next era of Celtics basketball to go down in history — and I wanted to go down in Boston sports history with it. So when I got that text from Tom, you know, there was part of me that felt a little down.
“But then I thought about the text some more … and I think I changed my perspective a little. I think I realized that, like, Yo — that’s Tom Fucking Brady. And I was only here for two and a half years. Tom Brady isn’t sending a text like that to guys who played in Boston for only two and a half years — unless they did something very special. So maybe, I don’t know … maybe that’s something to be proud of. And maybe, my time here … even if, in the end, I guess it wasn’t quite what I’d dreamed it would be — maybe it still meant something to some people.”
Thomas, a two-time All Star, played a large role in Boston’s recent success. Receiving an appreciative text from Tom Brady should only serve as validation.